Executive Session

Floor Speech

EXECUTIVE SESSION -- (Senate - September 17, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, in a few short minutes we are going to be going to a series of votes, including a number of them on the transportation and housing bill that has been before the Senate for a week now. I want to take a few minutes to remind all of our colleagues about the importance of this bill that we will be passing here shortly this afternoon. This is a bill that has broad bipartisan support because it addresses some very real housing and transportation needs of families in every region of this country. We worked very hard with our colleague, Senator Bond, my ranking member, who has been amazingly great to work with this week. We faced some real challenges with our bill this year but together we made some important infrastructure improvements, including providing over $75 billion for the Department of Transportation to support continued investment in our transportation infrastructure.

It includes $11 billion for public transit and $1.2 billion to invest in inner-city and high-speed rail.

This bill also supports the FAA's efforts to develop its next-generation air transportation system to support projected growth in air travel in coming years. It also invests $3.5 billion for capital improvement at airports across the country.

The bill provides nearly $46 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including $100 million for HUD's housing counseling program that will help families who are facing foreclosure today to stay in their homes. The bill also provides more than $18 billion for tenant-based rental or section 8, including an increase of over $1 billion for the renewal of section 8 vouchers.

It also provides increased funding for the operation of public housing for a total level of $4.75 billion, to make sure our Nation's low-income families, which are also, as we all know, among the hardest hit in these tough economic times, continue to have access to safe, affordable housing.

The bill includes $75 million for a very important program I worked on with Senator Bond, the joint HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program. This is extremely important to our Nation's veterans. It will provide an additional 10,000 homeless veterans and their families with housing and supportive services.

The bill also addresses the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens, by providing increased funding to support affordable housing for the elderly, disabled, those suffering from AIDS, and the Nation's homeless.

Finally, the bill provides almost $4 billion for the Community Development Block Grant Program to support investments in public infrastructure, housing rehabilitation, and public service, assistance that is critical to our States and our local governments right now.

In summary, this bill provides assistance to those who need it most, and it directs resources in a responsible and fiscally prudent way. It will help our commuters, it will help owners, it will help the most vulnerable, and it will help our economy.

I hope all Senators will support the bill when we move to the final vote here shortly this afternoon, after we consider several amendments. Before I close, I do wish to take, again, a moment to thank my partner and friend, Senator Bond, whom it has been a pleasure to work with throughout this process, as he and I go to conference now to work hard to make sure we find the differences and fix the differences between us and the House so we can get this bill to the President.

I most importantly wish to thank all our staff, from the floor staff who have been so generous with their time and help as we have worked through this, to all the staff who worked on the transportation and housing subcommittee, including John Kamarck, Ellen Beares, Joanne Waszczak, Travis Lumpkin, Grant Lahmann, Michael Bain, Dedra Goodman, and Alex Keenan, our new staff director on transportation who has done an excellent job, and especially Matt McCardle and Mike Spahn for all their efforts during floor consideration.

I am pleased we were able to consider and debate so many amendments and have produced a strong bill. But I would be remiss if I did not single out and thank two members of our staff, Meaghan McCarthy and Rachel Milberg, for all the outstanding efforts they made over the past several months under very trying circumstances late at night working so diligently.

I wish to especially thank them for all the work they have done to assemble this bill and write the report. I know it was a daunting challenge. I am so grateful to them for all the extra effort they have had to go through under some very trying circumstances. They have done an excellent job. They are a delight to work with.

With that, I see that my ranking member is on the floor. I wish to, again, thank him for being a great partner and for all his help and support to get this bill to the floor today.

I yield the floor.

Source